[TheForge] Re: bridge

[Mike Spencer]

Frosty wrote:

> A loaded bellyblade sander grosses out at around 75-80,000lbs. and
> the new 20 yard sanders grossed out at 120,000lbs.+ Sometimes the
> operator just got off the road, sometimes we got run into a ditch to
> avoid an out of control or idiot citizen motorist. It happened to
> all of us one time or another.

Not related to the 100K lb. bridge but a relevant blacksmith yarn:

Stuart Smith had a long-established blacksmith shop in Chester, NS, a
heritage landmark on the main highway from the South Shore to Halifax,
where he had worked since mustering out of the armed forces in 1945.
It was located just opposite the stem of a T intersection.  Behind the
shop was a 30' drop to a paved space where some kind of mill had once
stood.  The stem of the T descended a long, rather gentle grade but
the turn was within feet of the shop door.

One night in the early 70s during an ice storm, a fully loaded
plough/sander truck came creeping, sanding down the grade and tried to
make a left turn.  And failed.  It drove straight through the
blacksmith shop, taking the handle off the crank blower but leaving
the blower and forge in place.  Out the back wall and 30' down, taking
most of the shop contents with it.

Nobody was hurt. But the Province of Nova Scotia was self-insured
against such things so for the next fortnight, a crew of highway guys
were down in the holler, picking up and sorting individual rivets,
nuts, bolts, tools, gaffs, anchors, horseshoes and all the detritus of
a century of blacksmithing.  They built him a new shop the size of a
two-car garage next to his house half a mile away, delivered
everything there and demolished the remains of the old building.  Too
bad, as it was a really nice old shop.

The up-side, of course, is that Stuart wasn't at the anvil when it
happened.  Had he been, he would have gone out the back wall along
with the blower handle and ended up under the truck.


- Mike

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^